2 Armenians killed as truce breached
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TWO ethnic Armenian soldiers died yesterday in fighting with Azerbaijani forces as the foes accused each other of breaching a cease-fire that halted the worst outbreak of violence in decades over a disputed region.
The clashes are the first serious violation of a Moscow-mediated truce that took effect on Tuesday, ending days of fighting over the Nagorny Karabakh region that claimed at least 90 lives. The violence has sparked concern of a wider conflict in the strategic location that could drag in regional powers Russia and Turkey.
“Azerbaijan violated a cease-fire overnight” using mortars to shell ethnic Armenian rebel positions in Karabakh, the separatist defense ministry said in a statement, adding that two soldiers were killed.
Armenia accused Azerbaijan of shelling both military and civilian targets on the border.
“The Armenian villages of Karmir, Ttudjur, and Baganis came under Azerbaijani fire,” ministry spokesman Artsrun Hovhannisyan said in a statement.
Azerbaijan, a mostly Muslim former Soviet republic, said it returned fire after Armenian forces shelled its positions in Karabakh.
“Azerbaijani armed forces responded to Armenian artillery strikes,” defense ministry spokesman Vagif Dargahly said.
“Civilian targets (in Azerbaijan) were also shelled.”
Azerbaijan’s defense ministry later said the sides reached a deal to restore a cease-fire from 3pm Baku time. It said the bodies of dead soldiers would be collected from the battlefield with the help of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Red Cross.
Armenia-backed separatists seized control of Nagorny Karabakh, which is located inside Azerbaijan’s territory but populated mainly by Christian ethnic Armenians, in an early 1990s war that claimed about 30,000 lives.
At least 90 people from all sides, mainly servicemen, have been reported killed since a simmering feud exploded into fierce fighting on April 2.
The flare-up prompted Russia and the West to call on the sides to agree an immediate truce.
Azerbaijan’s army claimed to have wrested back control of several strategic locations inside Armenian-controlled territory, effectively changing the frontline for the first time since an inconclusive truce ended a three-year war in 1994.
Armenia dismissed the claims of captured territory as “untrue.”
The West, which is keen to reduce Europe’s dependence on Russian energy supplies, has vested interests in the stability of the Caucasus region, which sends Caspian Sea oil and gas to European markets, bypassing Russia.
World leaders have urged Baku and Yerevan to refrain from further violence and to step up efforts aimed at finding a diplomatic solution to the conflict.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev held talks with Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian on Thursday and Azerbaijan’s leader Ilham Aliyev yesterday.
“The situation is difficult,” Medvedev said during his meeting with Aliyev, adding that he hoped that “peace will be lasting and the sides will be able to continue discussing the settlement (of the conflict).”
The president of Azerbaijan for his part said that the cease-fire had been restored thanks to Moscow’s mediation efforts.
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